Dive Brief: The Biden administration is doubling federal funding to $ 1 billion this year for state and local mitigation efforts before disasters strike through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program that aims to “definitively shift the federal focus from reactive spending on disasters to research -” Supported proactive investment in community resilience, “according to this week’s announcement. FEMA’s Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program did not announce the beneficiaries of the first implementation cycle, which ran from September to January. It has saved $ 500 million for projects that mitigate risk, integrate nature-based solutions, support public infrastructure and adopt and enforce modern building codes. But the agency revealed that requests received from states and territories amounted to more than $ 3.6 billion. In addition to citing additional funding support for FEMA, Monday’s announcement outlines new steps to integrate resilience points across a host of federal agencies. Examples include the Department of Energy, which supports more small grid technologies, and the Department of Transportation, which promotes “future-proof” transportation investments. Dive Insight: Community resilience and preparedness are increasingly important to the national end result. Last year, the United States experienced 22 separate record-breaking weather and climate disasters totaling $ 95 billion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Biden administration’s announcement of new measures to put resilience to the fore within a week Lake Charles, Louisiana is still clearing it of storm-related floods, before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expects the hurricane season to be “above normal”. Meanwhile, California communities continue to grapple with a dangerous bushfire season amid the drought, and they recently approved a $ 536 million bushfire package that focuses in part on resilience. It could be years, before a billion dollars can have any effect in thwarting the devastation caused by extreme weather events and other impacts of climate change, according to Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC) founding directors Michael Berkowitz and Jeb Brugman. “The question is, will this help until next year?” Berkowitz said. “To really reduce vulnerabilities from these types of risks – that’s a generational commitment.” Brugmann also noted that due to the many threats that societies face, taxpayer-backed solutions must have multiple benefits. While he praised the efforts to accelerate one billion dollars in preparation for the next [climate threat season]What I would like to discuss is that we should think about how this money can be used by localities to do project design and build capacity to understand what building resilience is and out of this operational silos situation. ”RCC sought to better address some of these challenges by forming the California Resilience Partnership. Earlier this year, which aims to improve cooperation between different levels of government and stakeholders. RCC leaders say they were in discussions to set up similar programs in Louisiana and New Jersey. Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has yet to announce it. Who is receiving money from the first installment of $ 500 million, the agency revealed that it received 980 requests for funding from BRIC Group in fiscal year 2020, “the highest number received so far.” It has had “difficulty funding” over the years. But if the Biden administration wants to double the fun, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could plan much more aggressively and more, said Rob Moore of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), director of the Water and Climate Team, it has been transferred to the BRIC group. To Moore that in addition to increasing funding to the BRIC group, other resilience priorities that the Natural Resources Defense Council has raised to management include implementing reforms in the decades-old National Flood Insurance Program, and harnessing the power of natural defenses such as wetlands and floodplains.
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